Presents a serious challenge to the rise of Hindu fundamentalism, and exposes the right-wing and racist agenda of the BJP which wants to overturn India's secular constitution and escalate hostilities with neigh bouring Muslim Pakistan. Dwijendra Narayan Jha, a leading Indian historian, argues that beef played an important part in the cuisine of ancient India, long before the birth of Islam. Beef was very much part of the Brahmanical and Buddhist diet, and the evidence Jha produces from a variety of religious and secular texts is compelling. Dwijendra Jha's opponents include the current Government of India, and the fundamentalist groups backing them have demanded that the book should be ritually burnt in Public. The Hyderabad Civil Court has already banned the book and the author's life has been threatened.